FAQ: Reply Tasks

What is a reply task?

A reply task represents a task to reply to an email thread associated with a sequence enrollment. When a person replies to a sequence enrollment, the enrollment ends. This includes both human replies and automated replies such as Out of Office (OOO) messages. If their reply matches one of the task creation rules, a reply task is created.

When is a task created?

When the initial reply is received for a sequence enrollment, it undergoes classification. If the reply aligns with one of the predefined reply task creation rules in the settings (and does not meet any defined exclusions), a reply task will be generated.

Note: While automated replies (such as OOO messages) will end the sequence enrollment, you can configure your reply task settings to exclude OOO/Automated classifications from creating tasks or sending notifications. When properly configured to exclude automated replies, these responses will not impact your priority metrics or reporting. This won't prevent the enrollment from ending, but it reduces noise from automated responses. To continue outreach after an OOO reply, you'll need to re‑enroll the person into the sequence.

Configuring Reply Task Creation Rules

Reply Classification Types

Reply task creation can be configured based on specific reply classifications such as:

• Positive responses (interested prospects)

• Neutral responses (general inquiries)

• Objections (e.g., "Needs more info," "Bad Timing")

• Other classification types

Configuration Options

You can customize reply task creation by:

• Setting default priorities (Urgent, High, Medium, or Low) for tasks based on reply type

• Defining exclusions to prevent task creation for certain classifications like out-of-office replies or bounces

• Using the "Create reply tasks" toggle in your Reply Task Settings to enable or disable the feature entirely

Replied Out of Sequence: If a prospect sends an email to one of your connected mailboxes outside of the sequence thread (for example, replying to a different email or starting a new conversation), the sequence enrollment will end and show a status of "replied out of sequence." This prevents continued outreach when the prospect is engaging through other channels. However, this type of reply may not create a reply task in the same way as direct sequence responses. If you need to locate the original message, contact support for assistance in retrieving it from the mailbox logs.

Furthermore, after at least one reply has been identified to match the task creation rules, or after a user has responded to the thread, all later replies within the enrollment thread will automatically generate a reply task. In contrast to the initial reply, these subsequent replies do not need to satisfy a creation rule to trigger task creation.

Who is the task assigned to?

The task is assigned to the one of the following users depending on the sequence settings and whether the enrollment was created “manually” or by a play:

• The user who owns the mailbox used to send the sequence emails

• A specific pre-configured user

• The user who manually created the sequence enrollment (if applicable)

This behavior can be customized in the sequence settings.

Round-Robin Task Distribution

When multiple mailboxes are configured in a sequence, reply tasks will round-robin between the owners of those mailboxes. To ensure all tasks are assigned to a specific user, configure the sequence to use only that user's mailbox.

Best Practices for Multi-Rep Sequences

When multiple sales reps need to work with the same sequence content, consider these approaches:

• Separate sequences per rep (recommended for full ownership):

  • Each rep uses their own sequence with their own mailbox

  • Reply tasks automatically assign to the mailbox owner

  • Keeps each rep's task list clean and separate

  • Best when each rep should fully own their outreach and tasks

• Shared sequence with multiple mailboxes:

  • Add multiple mailboxes to the same sequence to distribute sending

  • Reply tasks round-robin between mailbox owners

  • When someone adds prospects to a play, the resulting tasks are assigned to that person

  • Use secondary forwarding if you want multiple reps to see replies for visibility while one owns the task

  • Best when you want consistent messaging but need to distribute workload

Reassigning Tasks and Emails

Bulk Reassigning Tasks: You can bulk reassign existing reply tasks using the Tasks tab. Select multiple tasks and choose "Assign Owner" to change the assignee. This is useful when you need to redistribute workload or correct assignment issues.

Reassigning Queued Emails:

• Step 1 (queued) emails can be bulk reassigned via Dashboard > Leading > Email Backlog > Reassign Sequence Enrollments for the specific sequence

• Mid-sequence scheduled emails cannot currently be bulk reassigned and must be updated manually

Important Limitation: Once Step 1 of a sequence has already sent, mailboxes cannot be switched mid-sequence to maintain a consistent experience for recipients. Changes to sequence routing settings will only apply to new enrollments created after the change.

How many reply tasks can an enrollment have at a time?

A sequence enrollment will have only one open reply task at any given time. If a new email message is received for an enrollment that already has an open reply task, no additional task will be created. The existing reply task will instead be updated to reference the latest message in the thread.

Once tasks are completed or skipped, a new reply task will be created if another email message is received in the thread.

Which mailbox is used to send replies?

When a reply is sent from Unify, the mailbox originally used to receive the message being replied to will be used to send the reply.

Typically, the mailbox utilized to send the enrollment email is used for replies. For example, let’s consider the following scenario:

• alice@sender.com sends a sequence email to bob@prospect.com.

• Bob responds to Alice asking for a meeting.

• When Alice replies back to Bob, her email will come from alice@sender.com because that’s the mailbox Bob sent his response to.

However, in a different scenario:

• alice@sender.com sends a sequence email to bob@prospect.com and CCs charlie@sender.com.

• Charlie replies to the thread, and Bob responds directly to Charlie without CCing Alice.

• When Alice replies to Bob, her email will now come from charlie@sender.com because that is the mailbox Bob replied to.

Email Signatures in Reply Tasks

Signature Assignment: Email signatures are tied to the assigned user's profile, not the mailbox address itself, and apply to all sequence emails—including initial outreach and follow‑ups—not just replies. Each mailbox must be properly assigned to a user in Settings > Deliverability > Mailboxes for signatures to display correctly. Note: The assigned user must have an active Unify user profile (must have logged in at least once) before a mailbox can be assigned to them.

Use sender variables like {{sender_first_name}} and {{sender_last_name}} in your sequence templates instead of hard‑coding names to ensure the correct sender information appears automatically regardless of which mailbox sends the email.

Common Issue: If a mailbox is assigned to the wrong user, the signature will show that user's name even when sending from a different email address. For example, if alice@company.com is assigned to Bob's user profile, replies sent from Alice's mailbox will display Bob's signature.

Solution: Ensure each mailbox is assigned to the correct user profile in the mailbox settings. Users can update their signatures in their profile settings to ensure proper branding and contact information appears in replies.

Where can I view and respond to replies?

Once a reply task has been completed, you can view it in the following locations:

• Tasks Dashboard: Navigate to the tasks dashboard to view and respond to reply tasks. Completed reply tasks appear in the "done" section

• Lagging Dashboard: Go to the lagging dashboard and select the "Replies" section to see all replies and your sent responses

Additionally, replies are automatically forwarded to the primary email address configured during mailbox setup. Note that automated replies are not forwarded - only genuine human responses.

Important: While replies are forwarded to your primary inbox for visibility, you must respond from within the Unify platform for the system to recognize your response and complete associated tasks.

Limitation: If a prospect replies to your primary email address (rather than the Unify-managed mailbox), or if you reply from your personal inbox instead of through Unify, the task will not auto-complete or skip and the enrollment will not auto-end. In these cases, you'll need to manually skip the task and manually unenroll the contact from the sequence to prevent continued outreach.

Note: Forwarded replies may occasionally be filtered into your spam folder, particularly if the email provider (such as Google) flags messages with similar sender and recipient names as potential phishing attempts. To prevent this, consider whitelisting your Unify mailboxes in your email provider settings. If you're not receiving expected reply forwards, check your spam folder and mark any legitimate replies as "not spam" to improve future delivery.

Complete Reply Detection Failure

When prospect replies are filtered directly to your spam folder, Unify's core system fails to detect them entirely. This causes the sequence enrollment will NOT end automatically, no reply task will be created, and the prospect continues receiving sequence emails despite replying.

1. Immediately check your spam folder for missed replies

2. Mark legitimate replies as "not spam" to restore detection

3. Manually end affected enrollments to prevent continued outreach

You can respond to replies directly within the Unify platform using the dashboards mentioned above. This allows you to review your manual responses sent through Unify mailboxes and track your completed reply task activity.

Please note: If a reply to the thread is made by someone outside of Unify, it will not automatically skip or complete the task.

You can respond to replies directly within the Unify platform using the dashboards mentioned above. This allows you to review your manual responses sent through Unify mailboxes and track your completed reply task activity.

Please note: If a reply to the thread is made by someone outside of Unify, it will not automatically skip or complete the task.

Slack Notifications for Prospect Replies

While the published FAQ covers the main ways to view and respond to replies (Tasks Dashboard, Lagging Dashboard, and email forwarding), you can also set up custom Slack notifications for prospect replies:

• Create a Play with contacts who have replied to a sequence

• Add a Slack notification action to the Play

• This allows your team to receive real-time notifications in Slack when prospects reply to your sequences